Abundance lends support to Treasury green gilts plan

Crowd bonds platform Abundance Investment has backed government plans to introduce green gilts.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak yesterday unveiled plans to issue the UK’s first ever sovereign green bond, to put the country at the forefront of green finance and cement its leading role in financial services after Brexit.

He said the government will issue its first sovereign green bond in 2021 subject to market conditions, to help the UK meet its 2050 net zero target and other environmental objectives.

These bonds will help finance projects that will tackle climate change, finance much-needed infrastructure investment and create green jobs across the country.

Abundance Investment has already been working on supporting green projects through community municipal bonds that are funded by local authorities through the platform.

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“The decision to issue a sterling green gilt is a real watershed moment for the way we think about our national debt,” Bruce Davis, managing director of Abudance Investment, said.

“For the first time since the founding of the Bank of England, the UK government is borrowing money from the capital markets with a very clear purpose.

“In 1694 the bonds were raised to fight a war, and in 2020 it is to fight a very different challenge, the climate emergency and the transition of our economy and society towards achieving net zero.”

Davis said this would give greater impetus to the platform’s own efforts to create local government green bonds across the whole of the UK and make sure every region in the UK can capture the financial rewards of the shift to a green economy.

West Berkshire council has already raised £1m through a CMI on Abundance and Warrington Borough Council is more than 75 per cent towards its target, with others in the pipeline.